Imogen Album Review – Expressive Works by a Hidden Composer

Imogen Holst has long remained overshadowed, hidden in plain sight as a composer. Not only was she under the towering legacy of her father, Gustav Holst, but she also worked as an assistant to Britten for 12 years. Even those who knew her personally were often unaware of the extent of her compositional work until after her death. Much of her work was “useful” music, created for specific occasions. Among the seven pieces recorded in the new collection, only the 1943 Suite for Strings was performed professionally, showcased at a London concert organized by her friends to highlight her compositions. She never sought out such opportunities for herself.

Beginning with Persephone, a 1929 composition, may not fully do justice to Holst’s originality. This early work reflects her time as a student, heavily influenced by Stravinsky and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. Still, her mature, unique musical voice—marked by harmonic imagination, immediacy, and a pleasing lack of sentimentality—shines through in the collection. This includes two previously unperformed choral anthems, despite a slightly muddled blend of voices in the recording. The standout pieces in the collection are the Suite for Strings and her variations on the 16th-century tune Loth to Depart. These works are rich with Holst’s distinctive, dynamic string writing, reminiscent of Tippett’s string compositions. The BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Alice Farnham, performs these pieces with great vigor.

• Imogen Holst: Discovering Imogen is released by NMC on 6 September.

Source: The Guardian